Thursday

I am building a display board for my Stampin'Up business, and in one section of the display board, I wanted to show the versatility that one stamp set could provide for stationery and gifts. I have a few more items to make using other stamps included in this set, but these couple of photos show the beginnings of that section. I think it will help customers begin to think "outside the box" alittle and see that stamps can be used in many different ways. The money holder is sitting on a black background because the white card was getting lost in my "light box", so the card itself doesn't have any black in it -fyi... :) The other items in the next photo are a post-it noteholder, a 2-5-7-10 gift box and standard card.

Monday

I have to admit that I don't have an absolute favorite technique, but I am pretty partial to heat embossing! It's such a tactile technique, isn't it? So perfect for the eyes and touch. There is something hypnotizing about watching the embossing powder melt into beautiful patterns. Not only that, but the colors become so much more vibrant - as if they are going to pop off the paper! And, if that isn't enough, you get to touch the raised patterns too! Wanna bet they come out with scented embossing powders soon (if they haven't already, that is)!?! If the scent wasn't overpowering at all, I think there's a market for this! Eyes, nose and touch! What do you think?

I randomly stamped the flower stamp from CartePostale in Groovy Guava ink on Cream cardstock to create my background. This was layered with Blue Bayou and Purely Pomegranate cardstock, then mounted onto a G.Guava cardbase. The medallion stamp was inked up with Versamark, then P.Pomegranate ink, and finally stamped onto the Cream. Clear embossing powder was sprinkled on top and set with the heatgun. I trimmed these square medallions out and mounted on B.Bayou, then adhered them on the card. The center medallion is pop-dotted off the card to add dimension. The sentiment was taken from the Priceless set and stamped in B.Bayou ink.

This is a quick one-layer card with a twist. The background swirl was inked up with Versamark, then Blue Bayou ink, then stamped directly to the cardbase. The flower medallions were inked up in the same manner, but stamped on cream cardstock with brads added to the center of each flower. Also, in a little twist, they step up from directly contacting the base layer, to 1 glue dot thickness, then 2 glue dot thicknesses. I used the Merci sentiment from CartePostale and the flower from Baroque Motifs to create my sentiment oval on cream cardstock that is also embossed. I sponged on alittle ink around the edges of the oval after trimming it to fit in the HPhardware, then attached it to the cardbase.

Thursday

Hello everyone... I know I've been quiet lately, but there's a reason why... I've been really focused on my website the last couple of weeks, and all the attention has finally paid off - for me, anyhow :). I'm really, really pleased with my website! Thank you so much, Jim, for providing me with alot of patience and training in the world of website creation. You are truly awesome! (For you who don't know, Jim is my dear husband and best friend.) If you'd like to see it, click here!

I haven't been playing with my goodies because of the website priorities, so it felt really good to sit down and make something again. This is a card that I created yesterday for a couple of tutorials. I know some of my friends are relatively new to the popular techniques out there, and I wanted to share these with whomever is curious how I do a certain technique. I hope they are well-received. I will note the originator of any technique if I can find who created it - these two are so popular that I wasn't able to locate a specific person. Anyhow, back to the card - I colored my Easter chick using Gamsol Magic, and the background was achieved with bleaching. I love doing my coloring this way because it can be as soft or intense as you'd like it. If you haven't done these before, I encourage you to try it out! I doodled grass blades for the ground and used the bleaching technique for the rose red background panel. I used the ticket corner punch for the rose red panel that is just below the image. I punched two small holes in the upper left corner of the white cardstock for threading my ribbon through to make my ribbon knot. I hope you like it!

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First and foremost, I love Heavenly Father and His son, Jesus Christ. I am truly blessed with four wonderful children and have been married to my sweet DH for over twenty-five years.

I love being creative with papercrafting, quilting, altered items and mixed media artwork. Horseback riding, gardening, and reading are other favorite hobbies. We love and share our home with a menagerie of animals.